The immigration issue, which all UK surveys already indicate as the main concern of its citizens, . At the moment, the majority of Labor deputies today support , which seeks to toughen access to the right to asylum with serious conditions. Because they are afraid that it will end up taking their seats in each of their constituencies. But in just a few days the number of rebels in the party and the parliamentary group has also grown – some of them moderate in nature – who have used high-caliber words such as “disgusting”, “unfair”, “racist” and “cruel” to refer to the new strategy of Keir Starmer’s Government.
“We face a serious problem, and our moral obligation is to fix a system [de concesión] asylum that is causing deep division throughout our country. For me it is a moral mission to put an end to this division, and I believe that our reforms can repair the system and unite citizens again,” Mahmood defended himself in parliament against the friendly fire that came from his parliamentary bench.
The minister is herself the daughter of Pakistani immigrants who arrived in the United Kingdom irregularly, and a practicing Muslim.
Labor MP Nadia Whittowe, daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants from the Punjab region, was the first to directly attack the minister. He joined a protest chorus that now includes at least 17 authorized voices. “It is a shame that it is a Labor Government that is tearing away the rights and protections afforded to people who have been victims of unimaginable trauma,” Whittowe charged. “How can we be adopting policies of such obvious cruelty? Is the Government proud of having fallen so low?”
Much of the new measures officially announced this Monday had been conveniently leaked by the Ministry of the Interior over the weekend, to take the initiative in a debate that promises to be intense and dangerous for Starmer.
With the new model that is intended to be promoted, and those who remain in the country once their entry visa has expired successfully complete the asylum application process, they must wait a period of 20 years before being able to acquire permanent residence. Until now, that period was five years.
Furthermore, during this long waiting period, the Government will reserve the right to review the personal situation of the applicant every 30 months, and if it considers that the conditions in the country of origin are safe again, it may deport those who obtained asylum at the time.
“The idea that refugees with legal status can still be deported is unfair. Of course we need control of our borders, but if we decide to grant asylum to some people, we should welcome and integrate, and not create a perpetual limbo,” MP Tony Vaughan denounced on the social network X, accusing the Government of using rhetoric similar to that of those who promote racism and division.
Jewelry and visas
The Ministry of the Interior has presented the reform as the most ambitious and drastic in terms of migration. And it combines an apparently complex legal strategy with certain broad-brush proposals that have irritated a certain sector of Labor.
Faced with the siren song of Farage’s far-right and the Conservative Party itself, which demand that Downing Street definitively break with the European Convention on Human Rights and stop submitting to the dictates of the Strasbourg Court, Minister Mahmood is trying to negotiate with other members of the Council of Europe a more flexible interpretation of articles 3 and 8 of the convention, which regulate the prevention of torture or inhuman treatment and the right to family unity respectively, and which the British Government considers to be used in abusive manner by asylum seekers to appeal their deportation.
Along with promoting these legal changes, the Labor Government has announced its intention to create independent bodies outside the judicial system to respond specifically to legal appeals presented by those whose asylum application is denied.
Likewise, temporary immigrants must have electronic identity documents, for greater control.
Along with these legal proposals, other ideas of the announced reform have made some Labor deputies nervous, such as the fact that the Government reserves the right to confiscate valuable assets in the hands of recently arrived immigrants, such as jewelry or vehicles, to help cover part of the costs of their future maintenance. Faced with criticism from Labor deputies such as Sarah Owen, who directly defined the proposal as “repugnant”, the Secretary of State for the Interior, Alex Norris, pointed out on the BBC the case of an irregular immigrant and asylum seeker residing in the United Kingdom who owned an Audi vehicle and received nearly 800 pounds per month (about 900 euros) from abroad.
“If they are capable of owning cars or electric bicycles, they should be able to contribute to their maintenance. But we have no intention of confiscating jewelry that has material significance,” Norris said, referring to possible marital alliances or personal heirlooms.
Finally, Minister Mahmood has announced that the Labor Government will stop approving entry visas for citizens of those countries that refuse to readmit deported immigrants, in line with the policy adopted by the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Specifically, Downing Street has pointed to Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to data from the National Statistics Office, a total of 111,000 people requested asylum in the United Kingdom between June 2024 and the same month in 2025. In turn, between March and March of those two years, 172,798 immigrants obtained that status.
